Aerial railway.



F. A. DAHLIN am. CARLSON.

AERIAL RAILWAY.

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I'. A. DAHLIN 6v E. CARLSON.

AERIAL RAILWAY.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 26.1908.

Patented 001.51909.

F. A. DAHLIN & E. GARLSON.

ABRIAL- RAILWAY.

APPLIOATION FILED DBO. 26.1908.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Emil (Tarkan,

witnesses ANDREW, s, GRAHAM ou. Pxoo Lwuamvu T. A'. DAHLIN & E. CARLSON.AERIAL RAILWAY.

` APLIOA-TION FILED DEO. 26, 1908. Patented Oct' 5 6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

UNITED STATES PATENT CFFICE.

FREY A. DAHLIN, 0F CHICAGO, AND EMIL CARLSON, OF WAUKEG-AN, ILLINOIS.

AERIAL RAILWAY.

Application filed December 26, 1908.

To all 'whom 'it may concern.:

Be it known that we, FREY A. DAHLIN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, andEMIL CARLSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Vaukegan, inthe county of Lake and State of Illinois, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Aerial Railways, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to improvements in aerial railways, and moreparticularly to improvements of this character designed for amusementpurposes, an obj ect of the invention being to provide an improvedconstruction of supporting frame work for tracks, from which latter carsare suspended.

A further object is to provide a frame work of general rectangular formsupported upon posts and having depending hangers, to which rails aresecured, and constitute electric conductors.

A further object is to provide an improved endless track in a circuitouspath, and provide a starting point to which the cars will return aftermoving throughout the entire path of the track.

A further object is to provide an improved arrangement of trussedgirders and struts supported upon posts, and from which track hangersdepend. v

A further object is to provide an improved construction of car which iselectrically propelled and suspended from trucks mounted upon thetracks.

A further object is to provide an improved construction of car suspendedfrom trucks, and having ball and socket juncture with said trucks.

A further object is to provide an improved construction of car having aseries of seats, entrances to the seats, doors to close said entrances,and improved means under the control of the motorman for operating thedoors.

i With these and other objects in View the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction, and combinations, and arrangements ofparts as will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out in theclaims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l, is a diagrammatic plan viewillustrating our improved railway structure. Fig. 2, is a view in sideelevation illustrating the main girder mounting. Fig. 3, is a view ineleva- Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented oct. 5, 1909.

Serial N o. 469,272.

tion illustrating the point of entrance and exit from the car. Fig. at,is a detail view of one of the struts. Fig. 5, is an enlarged end viewof one of the supporting posts. Fig. 6, is a view in side elevationillustrating our improved car. Fig. 7, is a top plan view of the car.Fig. 8, is a view in end elevation of the car. Figs. 9 and l0, are viewsin elevation taken at right angles to each other illustrating the frontcar-supporting truck. Figs. 1l and l2, are views similar' to Figs. 9 andl0, of the rear trucks.

1 represents a center post, 2 corner posts located an equal distancefrom the center post, and 3 intermediate posts, located halfway betweenthe corner posts and in line with the corner and center posts. Theseposts are preferably hollow, and are made very strong and -supportedupon a masonry foundation 4, so as to withstand all necessary weight andstrain incident to the operation of a railway of this kind. Four longtrussed girders 5 are supported at their inner ends on center post l,extend diagonally therefrom, and are supported near their outer ends oncorner posts 2, the outer ends of the girders 5 overhanging as clearlyshown. Side girders G of the same form as girders 5, but of shorterlength, are supported at one end on the intermediate posts 3, and attheir outer ends project across the corner posts leaving overhangingportions as shown clearly in Figs. l and 2. Girders 7 are supported attheir inner ends on posts l and project across the intermediate posts 3providing overhanging portions as clearly shown in Fig. l. These trussedgirders 5, 6 and 7 together with posts l, 2 and 3 con stitute the solesupporting means for the entire weight of the railway structure, as willmore fully hereinafter appear. To the girders 5, and at a pointequi'distant from the center post l and the intermediate posts 3,trussed struts S are secured at their ends to girders 5 and crossgirders 7, and const-itute a rectangular or square frame as clearlyshown in Fig. 1. Similar trussed struts 9 are supported at their innerends on the struts 8, and project over, and are supported upon, thegirders 6, and struts l0 are supported on the girders 5 and 6, and thesestruts 9 and l0, constitute a series of parallel supporting beams tosupport the track as will more fully hereinafter appear.

The dotted line 11 in Fig. l, indicates the center line of our improvedendless track,

and 12 indicates a platform which serves as a starting and stoppingpoint for the cars moving in the directionr of the arrows, and returningto the platform 12.

Hangers 13 depend from the girders and struts, and are made with lugs 14at their lower ends, projecting at right angles to the hangers, andangle rails 15 are secured upon these lugs 14 and against the hangers 13by means of rivets 16. These rails 15 constitute electric conductors.The hangers 13 at one side of the elevated structure, adjacent to theplatform 12, are of varying lengths, so as to permit the rails to benddownward to a lower level, to locate the car 17 on a level with theplatform and permit the ready entrance and exit of the passengers. Theinclined portion 18 of the track, up which the car must travel, isprovided with an endless cable 19, driven by any suitable power, notshown, to assist the car up the incline to the normal track level, whereit is nropelled by electric means.

20 and 21 indicate the front and rear trucks, supporting the car 17.These trucks are each provided with four flanged wheels 22, to run uponthe rails 15. Yokes 23 depend from the opposite sides of the truckframes, and blocks 24 are secured between the truck yokes, and saidblocks are provided with openings registering with he1nisphericalrecesses in the upper portions of the blocks. Hemispherical enlargements25 on the upper ends of hangers 26, which latter project through theopenings in the blocks 24, are located in the hemispherical recesses inthe blocks 24 and provide a ball and socket joint Vfor the hangers 26.The hangers 26 support angle brackets 27, and bars or links 28 aresecured at their upper ends to these brackets 27, and at their lowerends to the sides of the car body 17, to support the car suspended lfromthe trucks. A cover or canopy 29 is secured upon the brackets 27 and islocated above the car body 17, so as to protect' the occupants of thecar from grease which might fall from the tracks, and also shade the carfrom the rays of the sun. The car body 17 is in the form of an open boathaving a series of seats 30 disposed one behind the other, and entrancesand exits 31 are provided in both sides of the car between the seats topermit the entrance and exit of the passengers.

The rear end of the car is divided off by a partition 32 to provide acompartment for the motorman, and a seat 33 is provided in thecompartment for his accommodation. The rear truck, supports an electricmotor 34, which drives a shaft 35 and bevel gears 36 connect this shaftwith the shafts of the truck, so that the motor can propel the wheelsalong the track, as will be readily understood. An electric controller37 is lo` cated in the motormans compartment, and

is connected with the motor 34 by any ap` proved means not shown, sothaty the motorinan can have the motor under absolute con` trol at alltimes.

A channel bar 38 extends entirely around the ,Car 17 and forms a part ofthe car wall or casing, which latter is preferably composed of sheetmetal. This channel bar 38 constitutes a groove in which the flangedlower ends of doors 39 are mounted to slide, the flanged ripper ends ofthe doors moving in suitable grooved enlargements 40 at the upper edgeof the car body. At both sides of the car, endless cables 41 are mountedin the grooved or channel bars 38, and turn about pulleys 42 near thefront end of the car. These cables pass overvpulleys 43 and aroundpulleys 44, the latter turned by hand wheels 45 located within themotormans campartment and in convenient reach. All of the doors 39 onone side of the car are secured to the cable 41 on that side of the car,so that by turning the hand wheel 45 on that side of the car, all ofthat series of doors can be simultaneously opened and closed by themotorman. It will thus be observed that the motorman can operate thedoors at one side of the car without operating the doors at the otherside of the car, and in fact, in a construction of railway as abovedescribed, it will be rarely, if ever, necessary to open the doors onbut one side of the car, as the passengers will enter and leave from thesame side of the car.

In operation, Vthe passengers for the car will assemble upon platform12, and the car 1,7 will come down the inclined portion of the track,and be stopped by the motorman at the platform, which latter will be onthe level with the bottom of the entrances in the sides of the car. Thepassengers will then occupy the several seats in the car and themotorman will turn the hand wheel 45 to move cable 41 and close all ofthe doors 39. He then operates his controller 37 to startthe motor 34and lnove the car to the upwardly inclined portion 18 of the track,where the car will be engaged by the endless cable 19, and the latterwill assist the car up to the normal level of the track, when the carcan proceed throughout the several curvatures and path of the track asclearly shown in Fig. 1, back to the starting point. The passengers willthen leave the car and new passengers will enter for a trip.

It is to he understood that as many cars may be used as desired, and agreat many slight changes might be made in the general form andarrangement of parts described without departing from our invention, andhence we do not restrict ourselves to the pre oise details set forth,but consider ourselves at liberty to make such changes and alterationsas fairlyfall within the spirit and scope of our invention.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

l. The combination with a center post, corner posts spaced equi-distantfrom the center post and intermediate posts located equi-distant betweenthe corner posts and in line with the corner posts and center post,diagonal girders located upon the center and corner posts, girdersconnecting the corner posits and intermediate posts, girders connectingthe center post-s and intermediate posts, and rails supported on saidgirders.

2. The combination with a center post, corner posts located equi-distantfrom the center post, intermediate posts located equidistant between thecorner posts and in line with the corner posts and center post, diagonalgirders connecting the center post and corner posts, girders connectingthe corner posts and intermediate posts, girders connecting the centerpost and intermediate posts, hangers depending` from said girders andtracks secured to said hangers.

The combination with a center post, corner posts located equi-distantfrom the center post, intermediate posts located equidistant from thecorner posts and in line with the corner posts and center post, girdersconnecting the center post with the corner posts, girders connecting thecorner posts and intermediate posts, girders connecting the center postand intermediate posts, struts connecting the several girders, andtracks supported 0n said girders and struts.

4;. The combination with a center post, corner posts locatedequi-distant from the center post, intermediate posts locatedequidistant from the corner posts and in line with the corner posts andcenter post, girders connecting the center post with the corner posts,girders connecting the corner posts and intermediate posts, girdersconnecting the center post and intermediate posts, struts connect-ingthe several girders, hangers depending from said girders and struts,-and rails secured to the lower ends of said hangers.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence ot' two subscribing witnesses.

FREY A. DAHLIN. EMIL CARLSON.

litnesses JOSHUA R. H. PoTTs, HELEN F. LrLLIs.

